H.S. Boys Soccer Preview -- Out of Africa: King coach returns from a year sabbatical

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, September 8, 2009

By JOE RYAN

Times Correspondent

STAMFORD -- They say there are times when a sport is more than just a sport.

King Low Heywood Thomas boys varsity soccer coach John Chiavaroli found this out for himself when he took a sabbatical from his position last year to work with Grassroots Soccer, helping educate young players in Africa about HIV and AIDS prevention.

The popularity of soccer worldwide is sometimes overlooked within the United States, but the sport can be used as a passport into parts of the world where civic and cultural change is needed.

Chiavaroli first became aware of overlooked problems in South Africa in the post-Apartheid era when he went there on a vacation. He fell in love with the country and when he got the chance to contribute to its future in a small way he grabbed it.

Grassroots Soccer is using the power of the sport to illicit change, at least in reference to health issues and more specifically in fighting AIDS.

Chiavaroli said the main goal is the fight against this disease and soccer is the platform from which they teach.

"There are a lot of organizations that teach soccer, he said. "They will take a kid and play soccer with him and that's it. But Grassroots Soccer is more about healthy habits, more about promoting HIV prevention."

The coach had just finished his second year with King when he left the program after the Vikings had won the Fairchester Athletic Association title in 2007.

He had first captured an affinity for South Africa when he visited there with a former girlfriend over winter break in 2003- 2004. He had been teaching at New Canaan Country Day School and got the opportunity because his friend's father was involved with the movie Hotel Rwanda.

"It was amazing being over there," Chiavaroli said. "I mean being with stars like Don Cheadle and Nick Nolte, and it was great, but I only got to see one aspect of South Africa. Apartheid even though, it is no longer policy, it doesn't change overnight."

On both trips to the country, he said, although he stayed in compounds that were filled with modern comforts, as he looked out his window beyond the fences he saw settlements that were totally the opposite and still feeling the effects of the former regime, especially in Johannesburg.

"You get in your car, you lock the doors and then you go to another compound," he said. "The gate opens up to your place and there is an armed guard there and you go to another place where there are (more) armed guards.

Because the majority is still being oppressed in South Africa, Chiavaroli said the compounds are laid out with a design for the containment of potential uprisings.

Along with this divide, medical aid is not readily available in the outlying regions where AIDS relief is in major demand.

Meanwhile, within the compounds, they have more than adequate health care while the underprivileged majority still depends on shamans and witch doctors, whose cures are designed by local myths and legends.

Chiavaroli said his commute was both eye-opening and full of danger.

"It was like night and day," he said. "You would not believe my drive to work every day. I lived in an area no different than North Stamford and I would end up in a shanty town, end up in the townships, it was unimaginable. You would not believe the socio-economic discrepancy from where I left to where I arrived."

But once the locals saw the soccer balls and his T-shirt for Grassroots Soccer then the people welcomed him. The game was his safety net within the strife-riddled communities.

Chiavaroli said soccer is almost too popular with the settlements, where kids played street games instead of going to school. He said streets would shut down and money wagered on the games would create traffic jams.

One factor he found amazing was the intensity of these games being played for money that would amount to only a dollar and a half.

But he said the passion, in some cases, hid the need for quality coaching. This lack of direction also handicaps the more talented players from being recognized by professional leagues and perhaps finding a way out.

This, he said, is emblematic as to why the government is not doing more for the overall population.

"The coaching is severely lacking. That's kind of true of a lot of things. They have been in power since 1994 but are not moving forward. It's tough. It is going to take a lot of time and right now some people actually feel like their government has turned their backs on them."

Chiavaroli is from Darien originally and played at Choate-RosemaryHall and Kenyon College before going into coaching and teaching locally.

He said that while at Kenyon he left the team after a very successful freshman year when the coach left and the team was in disarray. The separation from the sport that was his passion allowed him to explore other interests he probably never would have and made him more aware of the world around him, according to Chiavaroli.

"I realized that soccer had been a big part of my life, but wasn't bringing me satisfaction," he said. "So my sophomore and junior years I was able to focus on interests I never would have been able to like music and languages and become more well rounded I guess."

He returned to the team his senior year as more of a leader, which stirred his interest in coaching and teaching after he graduated, no matter where his love for soccer would take him -- be it Stamford or South Africa.